Reduced Operation Current of Oxygen-Doped ZrN Based Resistive Switching Memory Devices Fabricated by the Radio Frequency Sputtering Method

Jinsu Jung,Hee-Dong Kim,Sungho Kim,Dongjoo Bae

doi:10.3390/coatings11020197

Abstract

In this work, we report the feasibility of resistive switching (RS) properties of oxygen-doped zirconium nitride (O-doped ZrN) films with platinum (Pt) and platinum silicide (PtSi) bottom electrode (BE), produced by a sputtering method. Compared to O-doped ZrN using Pt BE, when Pt/p-Si was used as BE, the foaming voltage slightly increased, but the operation current was reduced by about two orders. In particular, the average reset current of the O-doped ZrN memory cells was reduced to 50 µA, which can delay deterioration of the element, and reduces power consumption. Therefore, the use of PtSi as the BE of the O-doped ZrN films is considered highly effective in improving reliability through reduction of operating current of the memory cells.

Highlights

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution research into new non-volatile memory (NVM) devices that can store and process a large amount of information is being actively conducted
According to the reported literature [11], ZrN has attracted much attention as a resistance switching material due to its high thermal conductivity (50 W/mK) and semiconductor phase characteristics, which result in suppression of the random formation of the conductive filament (CF) and improvement of the current overshoot phenomenon of the RRAM
The Kumar Group recently reported an improvement of resistive switching (RS) characteristics, such as the reduced current variation, for ZrN-based RRAM results [12]

Summary

Introduction

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution research into new non-volatile memory (NVM) devices that can store and process a large amount of information is being actively conducted. According to the reported literature [11], ZrN has attracted much attention as a resistance switching material due to its high thermal conductivity (50 W/mK) and semiconductor phase characteristics, which result in suppression of the random formation of the conductive filament (CF) and improvement of the current overshoot phenomenon of the RRAM. The Kumar Group recently reported an improvement of resistive switching (RS) characteristics, such as the reduced current variation, for ZrN-based RRAM results [12]. In this study, we applied the oxygen-dopped ZrN thin film to a RS layer and platinum silicide (PtSi) as lower electrodes to reduce the foaming voltage and operating current of RRAM elements. A possible conduction mechanism for RS phenomena is discussed by applying the space charge limited conduction (SCLC) and Poole–Frenkel (P–F) emission models

Experiments

Conclusions